Stellar Java creates a social enterprise coffee stop

Stellar Care and Services is a decade-old, state- and federally-funded agency that serves those with developmental disabilities along the Front Range. Founder Robert Hedden says he was inspired to launch it after being moved by the 2001 Sean Penn film I Am Sam. Now, he’s taken over the coffee drive-thru outside Walmart, most recently Inertia Coffee Co.’s, from whom he buys espresso beans. His vision is to employ developmentally disabled people to learn and work alongside a trainer, not unlike Blank Canvas Café or AspenPointe Café.

I stop in shortly after opening and find Hedden and barista Adam VanDinter, who holds a year of coffee experience in Hawaii, he says, still organizing operations. But a frozen mochachino ($4.50/16-ounce), made with Inertia’s Brazilian dark roast shots, needs no doctoring. VanDinter gives it depth by using chocolate milk vs. plain, along with pumps of Ghirardelli syrup and a powdered frappé base. It’s a fine remedy to a hot afternoon.